SAN JOSE, Calif. – Timo Meier’s success against the Los Angeles Kings this season continued unabated Saturday night.
Meier had a goal and two assists and goalie Adin Hill made 29 saves and secured his second shutout of the season in his return from a lower-body injury as the San Jose Sharks earned a 5-0 win over the Kings before an announced crowd of 13,821 at SAP Center.
Tomas Hertl scored twice and Jonathan Dahlen added one for San Jose, which earned consecutive wins for the first time since the second week of January after it beat the Kings 4-3 in overtime on Thursday in Los Angeles.
Saturday’s game also marked the first time since late January that the Sharks had scored four goals or more in consecutive games, as Erik Karlsson’s return from forearm surgery has provided a needed jolt to San Jose’s offense.
Meier now has six goals and two assists in three games against Los Angeles this season, which includes his team-record five-goal game on Jan. 17. Meier now has 18 points in 25 career games against the Kings.
San Jose (26-25-7) is now 3-0-0 against Los Angeles this season. The two teams play again Thursday at Crypto.com Arena.
Hill, 25, was first injured in the Sharks’ Jan. 22 game at home against Tampa Bay, as he relieved James Reimer midway through the first period of what became a 7-1 Lightning win. Hill re-aggravated the injury in the Sharks’ ensuing practice and had not played again until Saturday.
Coach Bob Boughner said the Sharks thought about sending Hill down to the AHL for a conditioning game with the Barracuda over a week ago when the team felt he was almost ready to return.
Hill’s other shutout this season came in Montreal on Oct. 19, when he made 21 saves in a 5-0 Sharks win.
But Hill wasn’t fully healthy until this week and the Sharks didn’t want to take a chance of having him play an AHL game only to re-aggravate his lower-body injury.
“Hill’s been down for a long time, so I’m anxious to see how he’s going to play,” Boughner said. “Hopefully we’ll defend hard around him and not give him a heavy workload, but this is not an easy game to jump in.
“L.A. (puts) everything to the net with shot attempts. So we need to do a good job around him, trying to box out, pick up sticks and not have him make three or four saves on every flurry.”
Goals by Meier in the first period and Hertl in the second came on the power play, as the Sharks scored twice with the man advantage for the second consecutive game. The Sharks also killed one penalty and are now 10-for-10 on the PK in the last three games.
—LINEUP SHIFT
Jeffrey Viel entered Saturday’s lineup in place of Noah Gregor, who has seen his ice time drop this month and had just one goal and two assists in his last 12 games.
More than Gregor’s production, though, Boughner said he wanted the forward to improve his practice habits and drive the third and fourth lines that he’s been on of late.
“For me what I watch a lot is how these young guys practice. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s not good. That’s part of being ready to play a game. I want to see practice habits get better,” Boughner said.
“He’s had an opportunity to play in our top six a lot this year. When he gets into that bottom six where he’s at right now, you want to see him pushing it, you want to see him pushing his line and playing with pace. Sometimes it’s there, sometimes it’s not.”
Viel was a scratch for Thursday’s game in Los Angeles.
—REIMER ON RIGHT TRACK
Boughner said James Reimer felt good Saturday after he worked on the ice for about an hour with goalie coach Evgeni Nabokov on Friday. Boughner said the hope is Reimer will be a full participant in Monday’s practice.
—LABANC’S PROGRESS
Forward Kevin Labanc was on the ice briefly after Friday’s practice and could join the team in shooting drills next week, Boughner said. Labanc, though, has still not been cleared for contact and remains a couple of weeks away from fully able to play and practice.
